GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

South Korea has unveiled what appears to be a blueprint of a tunnel designed for nuclear tests in northeastern North Korea.

The blueprint was visible in a North Korean documentary aired on Korean Central TV in September 2010.

South Korean authorities on Monday released an illustrated photo of the blueprint, saying they believe 2 nuclear tests have been conducted inside the tunnel at the Poongkye-ri nuclear test site. [link to www3.nhk.or.jp] .

The Japanese government is cooperating with other nations as it prepares for a possible third nuclear test by North Korea.

North Korea's state-run Korean Central Television on Sunday reported that leader Kim Jong Un referred to a conclusion that calls for the further strengthening of the military to safeguard the country's security and sovereignty. [link to www3.nhk.or.jp] .

SEOUL — South Korea and the United States launched a joint naval exercise involving a U.S. nuclear submarine Monday, as tensions rise on the Korean peninsula ahead of an expected nuclear test by North Korea.

A defense ministry spokesman confirmed the three-day drill—condemned as a “warmongering” exercise by North Korea—was underway in the East Sea (Sea of Japan) off the southeastern South Korean port of Pohang. [link to www.japantoday.com] .

MUNICH — Iran on Sunday announced fresh talks with world powers on its nuclear drive and said it was open to an offer from the U.S. for two-way discussions if Washington’s intention was “authentic”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the six world powers planned to resume talks in Kazakhstan on Feb 25, and he insisted that Iran had never pulled back from the negotiations. [link to www.japantoday.com] .

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday it expects to log a group net loss of 120 billion yen in the business year ending March, compared with the previously forecast loss of 45 billion yen, on increasing fuel costs for thermal power generation in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster.

The operator of the plant, crippled by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan, now also expects a bigger operating loss of 275 billion yen than the earlier forecast 225 billion yen, on sales of 6.01 trillion yen, down from the earlier 6.03 trillion yen. [link to english.kyodonews.jp] .

Japan's environment ministry said Monday it will accept advice from two U.S. specialists on decontaminating areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis erupted in March 2011.

Robert Sindelar, an expert on decontamination technology and radioactive waste processing, and Mark Triplett, who has been supporting decontamination efforts at U.S. nuclear weapon production sites, will visit Japan and stay until the end of March. Their expenses will be covered by the United States, it said. [link to english.kyodonews.jp] .

Japan's environment ministry said Monday it will accept advice from two U.S. specialists on decontaminating areas affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis erupted in March 2011.

Robert Sindelar, an expert on decontamination technology and radioactive waste processing, and Mark Triplett, who has been supporting decontamination efforts at U.S. nuclear weapon production sites, will visit Japan and stay until the end of March. Their expenses will be covered by the United States, it said. [link to english.kyodonews.jp] .

GLP's best Fuku thread: Thread: *** Fukushima *** and other nuclear-----updates and linkstwitter: #citizenperth“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on it, I would use the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask, for once I knew the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”- Albert Einstein

Utility Centrica (CNA.L) has pulled out of plans to build new nuclear power stations in Britain with partner EDF (EDF.PA), paving the way for Chinese investors to enter the UK market through a partnership with the French firm.

Centrica said it had decided to waive an option of taking a 20 percent stake in four new reactors - two at Hinkley Point in Somerset and two at Sizewell in Suffolk.

Centrica's decision was largely expected, but it casts some doubt on the UK government's plan to attract investment to revive the nuclear industry. [link to www.nucpros.com] .

IT HAS BEEN 15 years since the federal government was legally obliged — but failed — to begin accepting waste from the country’s nuclear power plants. It has been four years since President Obama zeroed out funds for a permanent geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., eliminating hope that the government would live up to its obligation anytime soon. And, according to the Obama administration’s new strategy for dealing with nuclear waste, it will be another 35 years until the government opens a permanent repository at a different site, location as yet unknown. Even if the government meets its new timetable, that adds up to 50 years of delay, a not-in-my-back-yard nightmare that the country is only partway through. [link to www.washingtonpost.com] .

Nuclear waste has long been treated as an afterthought by the atomic energy industry. But the failure to find a way of disposing of it – culminating in last week's blocking of further investigations on siting a repository in Cumbria – now threatens the building of new reactors. [link to www.nucpros.com] .

Does anybody really still think that nuclear power is 'clean' and 'too cheap to meter?'We pay to build them, tear them down and clean them up..and then there is the 1000 year commitment todeal with the waste.And we get to pay for the power we use, too..Ain't it a great racket..?Tony Soprano would be proud.

In line with the results of similar lawsuits filed by other nuclear plant owners, a judge ruled Thursday that the federal government must compensate the Sacramento Municipal Utility District for spent fuel storage costs at the decommissioned Rancho Seco nuclear plant.

The suit sought $80 million in waste storage expenses from 1992 to 2009, KERO news reported, although the Court of Federal Claims judge awarded only $35 million.

The NRC found that Exelon's method for calculating the amount of set-aside money failed to comply with NRC requirements and resulted in inadequate funds, NRC spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng said Sunday.

The shortfall was found at nuclear plants in Braidwood, Byron, Clinton, LaSalle and Zion, among others.

Separately, Exelon has said it will take a $270 million charge in the first quarter 2013 in case it loses a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service, which says the utility used a tax shelter to inappropriately deferring money Exelon received from selling coal-fired power plants in Illinois.

Commonwealth Edison would have to pay $185 million of the $270 million fine if the utility is found to have used the tax shelter.

A ComEd spokeswoman said it has no plans to come up with the money by raising rates.

CP Police Insp. William Law was happy the protest was peaceful but said it was "very dangerous" for demonstrators to block the tracks. "They were just very lucky the train was able to stop in time," he said.

Masao Yoshida, the former chief of the Fukushima No.1 Nuclear Power Plant, cannot be questioned by prosecutors due to his failing health. But his testimony given to a government disaster investigation team five months after the nuclear disaster has now been seized and may be used to file a criminal case against him.

He was responsible for evaluating safety measures at the plant, and at that time, 2008, they estimated the damage that would come about should a tsunami 15.7 meters in height should hit the area. He reportedly put off implementing any safety measures because it was a worst-case scenario and the probability of that occurring was very low.

When Yoshida and other TEPCO officials were questioned, they were not given the right to remain silent and the recorded testimony was not released to the public.

“Major cyber incident” at U.S. Department of Energy — ‘Hackers’ to target nuclear? [link to enenews.com]

[snip]

Ed McCallum, who spent 10 years as the Department of Energy’s Office of Safeguards and Security, said the latest security breach highlights decades of poor security at the department. [...]

The department “is on the cutting edge of some of the most sophisticated military and intelligence technology the country owns and it is being treated frivolously by the Department of Energy and its political masters,” McCallum said. [...]

“Scrap metal that is potentially contaminated by radiation should not be released into the general stream of commerce. Period,” Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute, said in a Jan. 30 statement.

Department of Energy facilities have several thousand tons of scrap metal from radioactive sites. This is the third time in three decades the agency has attempted to sell it into the scrap metal market.

Researchers in Italy and the UK have reviewed the economic, social and environmental impact of hydro, coal, oil, gas and nuclear power. Each has its advantages and disadvantages, but of these conventional electricity generation technologies, hydroelectric power appears to be the most sustainable and acceptable environmentally and economically. Nuclear and coal run a close second place but oil or gas-fired power stations are revealed to be the worst choice when considering the various factors overall.